While the Oakland Athletics continue to surge, the struggles of the Tampa Bay Rays have also lingered.
The A's can extend their season-high road winning streak to six games Wednesday night against the Rays, who hope to avoid matching their season high with a fourth straight defeat.
Drew Pomeranz pitched five strong innings and Coco Crisp had two doubles with two RBIs as Oakland (29-16) won its fourth in a row and 10th in 11 games, 3-0 at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The A's have outscored opponents 74-18 over those 11 games and 36-8 during a five-game road winning stretch.
"You don't do that by swinging at bad pitches," Rays losing pitcher Jake Odorizzi said.
Crisp is batting .444 (8 for 18) with five doubles in his last five games at Tampa Bay, but is expected to miss this contest after leaving Tuesday with neck soreness. He made four consecutive starts since missing seven games with a neck strain.
Even if his neck didn't hurt, there's a chance Oakland manager Bob Melvin may give Crisp a day off anyway considering he's batting .056 (1 for 18) versus scheduled starter Erik Bedard (2-1, 2.78 ERA) - his worst average among the 59 pitchers he's faced at least 20 times.
Brandon Moss is 3 for 4 against the left-hander, and is hitting .452 with three homers, seven doubles and 11 RBIs in his last eight games.
Bedard allowed 13 runs, 13 hits and 13 walks over 10 innings while going 0-2 in three starts against the A's last season with Houston.
However, he's 2-0 with an 0.79 ERA in his last four starts and has not yielded an earned run in 15 2-3 innings. Bedard gave up two unearned runs in 5 2-3 innings and was in line for the win Thursday when the Rays' bullpen blew a three-run lead in the ninth of a 6-5 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels.
Losers in 10 of 14 overall and eight of nine at home, the Rays (19-27) have totaled two runs and been shut out twice during a three-game skid.
"Never say it can't get any worse because whenever you utter those words, you're going to find it out," said manager Joe Maddon, whose team is eight games below .500 for the first time since 2007.
"I'm looking more for the turning point. You never know how close you are to turning negative momentum to positive."
Star Evan Longoria is 3 for 26 with 10 strikeouts in the last eight contests.
Teammate Yunel Escobar had one of Tampa Bay's four hits Tuesday, and is 3 for 6 with a home run and a double against scheduled Oakland starter Tommy Milone (1-3, 4.10)
The left-hander went 0-3 with a 5.86 ERA in his first five starts but has allowed only a solo home run and seven hits in 14 innings to go 1-0 in the next two. That run came over six innings last Wednesday during a 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
"I know teams know me by now," Milone told the Athletics' official website. "They know I throw the changeup a lot, so I'm trying to use my fastball as much as possible.
"I'm trying to get back to being consistent. The last two starts I've been able to do that."
Milone has been consistently ineffective while going 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA against the Rays.
